Emerging evidence shows that after injury or infection, the mesenteric lymph acts as a conduit for gut-derived toxic factors to enter the blood circulation, causing systemic inflammation and acute lung injury. Neither the cellular and molecular identity of lymph factors nor their mechanisms of action have been well understood and thus have become a timely topic of investigation. This review will first provide a summary of background knowledge on gut barrier and mesenteric lymphatics, followed by a discussion focusing on the current understanding of potential injurious factors in the lymph and their mechanistic contributions to lung injury. We also examine lymph factors with antiinflammatory properties as well as the bidirectional nature of the gut–lung axis in inflammation.

新出现的证据表明，在受伤或感染后，肠系膜淋巴作为肠道来源的毒性因子进入血液循环的管道，导致全身炎症和急性肺损伤。淋巴因子的细胞和分子特性及其作用机制都没有得到很好的理解，因此已成为及时的研究主题。本综述将首先总结肠道屏障和肠系膜淋巴管的背景知识，然后重点讨论目前对淋巴液中潜在有害因素及其对肺损伤的机制贡献的理解。我们还检查了具有抗炎特性的淋巴因子以及炎症中肠-肺轴的双向性质。